This may be a controversial topic, but I feel the need to bring it up.

Up until now, minesweeper tournaments have always been completely free of entry fees. I think that that is awesome, I love the fact that people do this for the community, and not for profit.

However, I am organizing the world championship, and currently, my financial possibilities are rather limited. I could pay for trophies, but there is one more thing that I would like to do, and that requires more money than I currently have.

If my university doesn't let me use a computer room, I have renting a gaming location for a day or two as a backup plan. That would eliminate many problems that arise with using university rooms, and we'd have really, really good specs, but it would also cost a lot.

I'd try to find sponsors, obviously, but there is no guarantee that that would work out.

Also, fees are collected routinely for cubing comps - and that may be a good reason for them being that much more common, because finding a venue is much easier, and therefore, hosting a competition becomes much more viable.

So, the question is: Are entry fees for minesweeper tournaments acceptable? If so, how high is still acceptable? I am assuming that no profit is made - all money collected goes towards purchasing things that will be used for that tournament (ie, venue, prizes, food, etc).